Christian Subversion And Missionary Activities - 5

[Shambhu]

Conversions: Faith in the closet
Shreerang Godbole
http://www.vijayvaani.com/FrmPublicDisplay...cle.aspx?id=125
excerpts..
How does one explain the curious paradox of an apparent spurt in conversion activities and a static, sometimes even declining Christian share in the population?
The answer becomes obvious when one takes the trouble of studying Christian strategy and statistics – statistics provided by authoritative mission documents. <b>The 2001 report states that of the estimated 1.88 billion professing Christians worldwide, an estimated 124 million or 6.2% are crypto-Christians or those who conceal their faith.</b>
Crypto-Christians are numerous in places where Christianity gets a taste of the maltreatment it usually metes out to others. Thus, Chinese law requires all churches to be registered with government-run Christian associations. Members of so-called underground churches are imprisoned, ‘re-educated,’ and sometimes executed.The existence, indeed proliferation, of crypto-Christians in India is a fact acknowledged by the Church. The World Christian Trends (2001) has placed the number of persons affiliated to the Church in India at 62243546 or 6.1%. <b>In short, the number of Christians in India is nearly thrice the official census figure! The document places the share of crypto-Christians in the total Christian population at a staggering 62%! </b>in 2002, the American mission agency Global Mapping International asked Patrick Johnstone, author of Operation World, a prayer handbook which documents demographics and mission activity in many countries, to list the seven most encouraging trends of the 1990’s. “The astonishing and mostly undocumented growth of the church in India - the official numbers (2.34% Christians in 1991) are far lower than the truth, deliberately hiding the true extent of Christianity in the nation. The true figures are certainly far more than double, and look like only the beginning. The ‘untouchable’ Dalits have started leaving Hinduism, which could lead to an immense growth of Indian churches” was Johnstone’s gleeful reply. So why do so many Christians in India conceal their faith, given that the rulers are Christian-friendly? The present Constitutional provision that limits the benefits available to Scheduled Castes only to Hindus (including Sikhs and Buddhists) is a major hurdle.
Dr. Shreerang Godbole is a Pune-based endocrinologist, social activist and author. He has contributed in making http://www.savarkar.org